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Wednesday, 3 April 2013

Canadian Students Back Boycott Israel Movement

Canadian Students Back Boycott Israel Movement

Largest Campus Group Passes Pro-BDS Measure

North
of Border: Boycott Israel protests have been a staple of campus
activities in California. Now, Canadian students have passed a pro-BDS
resolution.

By JTA

*

The
largest student association in Canada passed a resolution endorsing the
global boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign against Israel.

With
the passage late last week of the resolution, York University’s student
association joins two others in Canada - the University of Toronto and
Concordia University graduate student associations - in endorsing the
BDS campaign, according to the York University Excalibur

The
campaign calls for universities to divest from holdings in companies
that do business with Israel and to cut ties with Israeli academics.

The
vote by the council of the York Federation of Students was 18-2 in
favor and was advocated for by the Students Against Israeli Apartheid at
York.

Jewish
student groups at York complained that they were not given advance
notice of the vote and had little time to prepare an argument against
the resolution.

In
comments to the Excalibur, Safiyah Husein, a vice president of the York
Federation of Students, portrayed the resolution as uncontroversial.
“Indeed, not everyone supports reduced tuition fees, equity campaigns,
or sustainability work, but we know the majority of our members believe
this work is vital and important,” Husein said.

Chaim
Lax, president of Hasbara@York, said his group was disappointed and
called the resolution “fundamentally racist, and a possible violation of
[York’s] anti-discrimination codes.”

The York Federation of Students resolution will have no actual bearing on the university’s investment portfolio.

“York
University uses best practices in developing its policy on investments,
and this is built on advice from major investment consulting firms,”
York spokeswoman Janice Walls told the Canadian Jewish News.

The student federation represents over 52,000 undergraduate students at York, Canada’s third-largest university.